Heart Attack Symptoms Are Often Misdiagnosed As Anxiety In Women

Women are more likely to die of heart attacks because their
symptoms are often misdiagnosed as anxiety so they do not get
vital swift treatment, said a study Monday.

Researchers at McGill University in Montreal set out to
understand sex differences in mortality rates for men and women
with acute coronary syndrome.

They asked 1,123 patients aged 18 to 55 to fill out a survey
after being admitted to one of 24 hospitals in Canada, one in the
United States and one in Switzerland.

The women in the study, the researchers found, generally came
from lower income brackets, were more likely to have diabetes,
high blood pressure and a family history of heart disease.

They also had substantially higher levels of anxiety and
depression than the men.

The researchers noted that the men received faster access to
electrocardiograms (ECGs) to check heart rhythms and fibrinolysis
to prevent blood clots than the women.

Early treatment for a heart attack can prevent or limit damage to
the heart muscle, while saving the person's life.

On average it took 15 minutes and 28 minutes, respectively, for
men to be given ECGs or fibrinolysis from the time they arrived
at an emergency room.

In contrast, it took 21 minutes and 36 minutes for women.

The researchers pointed to the women's higher levels of anxiety
as the primary reason for the discrepancy.

"Patients with anxiety who present to the emergency department
with non-cardiac chest pain tend to be women, and the prevalence
of acute coronary syndrome is lower among young women than among
young men," said lead researcher Louise Pilote.

"These findings suggest that triage personnel might initially
dismiss a cardiac event among young women with anxiety, which
would result in a longer door-to-ECG interval."

The findings were published in the current issue of the Canadian
Medical Association Journal.